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buildingskills LEARn ThE BAs ICs B y John Ros s trim the bottom of a door Mark and score where you’ll cut 1 Mark the door for the cut. At the bottom of the door, I put tape on both the hinge side and the strike side (the side with no hinges). I place the rug against the closed door and mark both pieces of tape 1 ⁄4 in. above the rug. Because this is an area rug and not wall-towall carpeting, I want the door just to clear the rug after it is trimmed. T he necessity of trimming a door goes along with remodeling projects where the floor rises because of added carpeting, new tile, or extra layers of subflooring (or in my case, whenever my penchant for area rugs gets the best of me). As someone who has remodeled other people’s homes as well as my own, I have tackled this project over and over. To trim a door problem-free, I call on the same skills I use for other finish-carpentry projects, such as built-ins, wainscoting, and countertops. Although you can use straight- edge guides, special saws, and zero-clearance throat plates to cut finished work, I use a 4-ft. level clamped to the door and a thin-kerf blade in my circular saw for a task like this (sidebar p. 116). I also use a utility knife to score the door and some masking tape to protect the surface of the door. Finally, I need a gauge block, which I usually make from a piece of thin plywood. John Ross is an assistant editor at Fine Homebuilding. Photos by Charles Bickford, except where noted. 114 FINE HOMEBUILDING 2 Draw the cutline. With the door set on sawhorses, I connect the two marks with tape, then use the level to draw a straight line between them. 3 Score the cut to prevent tearout. Clamped to the door, the level works well as a guide while I make several shallow passes with a utility knife to score the cutline. As an extra precaution, I tape and score the end of the door where the circularsaw blade will exit. step by step